Peer review - a safety and quality improvement initiative in a general practice.

Background: A general practice in inner city Melbourne (Victoria), committed to ensuring quality standards of clinical care, developed a process for peer review of their doctors' performance. The aim was to ensure that there was a robust and fair process for evaluation of doctor performance from both a safety point of view, and from the perspective of contribution to team based practice.

Objective: This article describes the process and outcomes of this appraisal process.

Discussion: From the springboard of weekly clinical meetings which address critical incidents and near misses, the practice doctors developed an annual process of formal performance review incorporating hard and soft indicators of clinical performance and compliance with professional and practice standards. This type of activity falls within the scope of quality improvement in general practice.